Monday, January 4, 2010

Top Churches to Watch in 2010

One of the wisest things a pastor can do is learn from other churches. Ministry is a busy vocation, so it is important use your limited time wisely when looking for churches to study.

There are roughly 320,000 churches in the United States, and obviously no one has time to study them all. In fact, few people have time to study all 421 churches from the 16 big “top churches” lists since 2004. If you are looking for some top churches to watch in America, I have created mashups of the top churches to study in the areas of growth, innovation, church planting, size, influence, and overall.

Keep in mind these lists aren’t perfect. Many are subjective. Some have misinformation. But I find these mashups to be a step in the right direction of creating better lists.

Also, keep in mind that these aren’t the only churches worth watching. You should also be learning from local churches, church plants, and more.

My methods for ranking the churches are simple. Churches are ranked (1) by how many lists they have been included on and (2) by the average ranking they have had on the lists. See the end of the article for a list of all lists referenced.

TOP 10 U.S. CHURCHES to learn from about CHURCH GROWTHThese are the top churches to learn from about how to consistently experience high level growth.

I appreciate that these lists prove that success in ministry can be achieved with a variety of models. They represent a wide spectrum of denominations and ministry philosophies that reach an equally diverse spectrum of cultures and communities. Something valuable can be learned from each church.